BTS of August's Virtual Book Chat and... 💖⚙️📚

👀 The programming schedule for TeslaCon 2025 is live! Are you coming?

Aug 27, 2025

Hello! It’s back to school for my sons this week, which means more revisions and research time for me. I have lots of fun things to share today, including a new virtual event hosted by SFWA that I found out about moments before I was about to hit send on this newsletter!

Chatting about Airship Pirates, Cats, Automatons, and Fairy Tales at Temporal Textual Talks

I had an amazing time being this month’s guest author at Temporal Textual Talks! I loved all the questions and discussions around Forsaken Beauty and the Etherbeast. I’m so thankful that co-hosts Madame Askew and Bill Bodden gave me this opportunity. If you missed the live meeting, you can watch it on YouTube here:

One thing I briefly talked about was the prequel side story that I’m slowly (read VERY SLOWLY. There is no release date yet planned because I’m on a deadline for a few projects already! 😅😂)

In my notes, I have the backstory of how a certain airship pirate stole her automaton pilot from her future wife. I’m not sure yet if The Ballad of the Figment will be a novella or a full-length novel, but it’s been a joy to revisit these characters between rounds of revisions. Most of the story can be summed up from this Captain Charity quote from Forsaken Beauty and the Etherbeast:

“Do you think happy, well-adjusted people become airship pirates? I have a past. We all do. I’ve had the misfortune of being treated as property until I finally put a stop to it. There may have been explosions involved.”

A few other highlights from book club:

The origins of Cinders the cat
Lots of love for Captain Charity and Damek Wraithe the automaton
More about Maureen’s backstory
Musings on creating fairy tale retellings
How I learned to plot watching K-dramas
Thoughts about being an indie author (I’ve never queried and I talk a little bit about why I made my choices)

I can’t wait for book club next month! In September, we’re reading the graphic novel, Monstress Volume 1: Awakening, by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda. For more details, check out Temporal Textual Talks on Facebook (and look for their active Discord link.)

Join me at TeslaCon?

The full schedule for TeslaCon was recently released! When I’m not at my table with my books, attending room parties, and dancing at the masquerade, I’ll be on a few panels and reprising my role in the BrassGears Adventurers Society radio play! I can’t wait to see old friends and new this November!

Here are my panel days and times at this year’s TeslaCon:

Fairies, Folklore & Superstitions of the later Victorian Age on Thursday, November 6th at 3:00 pm - 4:30 pm
Magic and Machines: Steampunk Fairy Tales on Friday, November 7th at 2:30 pm - 4:00 pm
BrassGears Adventure Radio on Saturday, November 8th at 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm
Understanding Automatons on Saturday, November 8th at 2:30 pm-4:00 pm
Writing Steampunk: Beyond Cogs and Gears on Sunday, November 9th at 11:30 pm -1 pm

TeslaCon takes place November 6th-9th, 2025, in Middleton, Wisconsin. This year’s theme is all about steampunk fairy tales and Nordic mythology. Come join us! For more information, click here.

After TeslaCon, I’ll be attending Quasar: SFWA's Fall Online Nebula Event virtually on November 15th-16th for some professional development and catching up with author friends.

From November, 21st-23rd, I’ll be in Bloomington, Minnesota for Fables and Flames Romantasy Gala as an attending author! I’ll have a table with my books and other bookish goodies.

The list of things to do at Fables and Flames looks AMAZING: